Methodology (Draft)

Methodology (Draft)

Sampling

The study includes a sample of volunteers from two festivals and one special event that took place in London. This city is selected for accessibility reason. The study includes a convenience sample of approximately 100 individuals that is selected from volunteers who offered their services in 3 different events: two festivals and one special event. The cooperation with event managers is necessary in order to provide email database of volunteers or to put feedback questionnaires in the websites.

Instrument

Quantitative data collection is chosen as a technique for this study. Self-administered internet-mediated questionnaires will be used and administered electronically using the Internet. The reason of using internet questionnaires, and in particular those administered in conjunction with email, is that they offer greater control because most users read and respond to their own mail at their personal computer (Witmer et al., 1999, quoted in Saunders et al., 2007). Respondents to self-administered questionnaires are relatively unlikely to answer to please researcher or because they believe certain responses are more socially desirable (Dillman, 2000, quoted in Saunders et al., 2007).
The questionnaire of the survey used for this study was adapted from Monga (2006) study, which was conducted in the context of 5 different special events. This allows to compare the findings with previous study.
Originally, recognizing the unique characteristics of special events and available literature on special event volunteering, a five-dimensional framework was developed by Monga (2006). Two additional explanatory dimensions—affiliatory and egoistic motivations—were added to the prevailing three-dimensional model constituting altruistic/normative/purposive, material/utilitarian, and solidary/affective/social motivations discussed above. The affiliatory dimension of motivation underpinned the essence of “specialness” of special events whereas the egoistic dimension of motivations is a result of disaggregation of the prevailing “material/utilitarian” category into intangible (egoistic) and tangible (instrumentalism) rewards (Monga, 2006).
The results of factor analysis of Monga’s study (2006) revealed six factors. The rotated component matrix (rescaled) showed that affiliatory items loaded together on the scale that measured the affiliatory dimension of motivation to volunteer in special events as in the original scale. Items measured two different dimensions of motivation in the original scale, which were altruistic and egoistic loaded together as one factor. Considering the items it was renamed as “feelings of fulfillment.” Solidary items were loaded together on the matrix and measured “solidary” motivations in the original scale. Item ‘make friends’, which was a part of the measure for solidary motivation, loaded as the sixth factor and stood alone on the matrix. The researcher decided to exclude it from the scale. Items measured instrumental motivations in the original scale loaded as the fifth factor on the matrix. Items ‘souvenirs’ and ‘opportunity for free participation in event’ which were a part of instrumental motivations, loaded as the sixth factor. Item ‘networks in professional area’ loaded as the sixth factor, which was also part of instrumental motivations in the original scale.
As a result of Monga’s (2006) factor analysis and the new scale measuring five dimensions of motivation it was found that the affiliatory dimension of motivation remained the most highly ranked and thus the trigger factor (mean 4.074). The feeling of fulfillment was ranked as the second highest dimension of motivation on the scale (mean 3.545). Opportunity for career development dimension of motivation was ranked third in order of importance on the scale (mean 2.740). Personal rewards were ranked next on the scale with a mean score of 1.902. The solidary dimension of motivation remained the lowest ranked with the mean score of 1.3412. This dimension of motivation measured the lowest in the original scale also.
The motivation dimension used in the current study includes: Affiliatory (5 items), Feeling of Fulfillment (7 items), Solidary Motivation (7 items), Opportunity for Career Development (4 items), Personal Rewards (2 items). One more factor named Unemployment (3 items) was included in the set of survey items. Therefore, the final instrument includes 28 items.
In the survey are used closed questions, namely 5-point numeric rating scale that will give the possibility to reflect the feeling of the respondents.

Analysis

The reliability was examined through calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for each of the dimensions (Monga, 2006). In order to check reliability and validity of the scale, a pilot-test was conducted. The final survey was mailed to the volunteers who had participated in the most recent events selected for study.
The data will be prepared and analyzed using SPSS or PASW (Predictive Analytics Software) Data Entry. This will enable the non-open text data set to be automatically coded for data analysis at the point of data entry (Monga, 2006).Factor analysis was conducted in order to assess how well the 6-factor model fits the data as a factorial validity test.
Demographic information, such as gender, age, and employment status, will be collected to examine potential subgroup differences, using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). It will allow to test the effects of gender and employment status of the participations on motivational factors. Findings will provide a better understanding of subgroup differences in motivation of volunteering.